


Bird in the Cage

by petals_and_bones



Category: Vocaloid
Genre: Basically a corpse party ripoff, Creepy, F/M, Ghosts, Horror, So be warned, Spooky things to be found here, creepy ghosts and everything, there is blood and gore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-30
Updated: 2020-06-30
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:00:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25002022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/petals_and_bones/pseuds/petals_and_bones
Summary: Through a haze of darkness deep in the forest, a mystery awaits in an old abandoned orphanage. Kaito and his friends, drawn to the ghosts there, attempt to uncover the secrets weathered by time and painted by shadows. The closer they get, however, they'll learn that some things are best left forgotten...This is a songfic I wrote while I was in high school a million years ago, so I'm giving it a facelift and slapping it on my Ao3 account. Based on the song "Circle You, Circle You".
Relationships: Hatsune Miku/Kaito
Kudos: 6





	1. A Legend

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! As mentioned in the description, this is essentially a remaster of an old high school fanfic I wrote back when I was in my Vocaloid phase. The original is probably still somewhere in the bowels of fanfiction.net, bless.
> 
> Anyway, I've always had a soft spot for this fic, and revisiting it has actually been a lot of fun! I hope it's weathered the test of time. Let's find out!

On any other day, the shrill ringing of the school bell would signal the end of class. But for Kaito, it was like hearing a death sentence.

“Now remember, everyone, tomorrow is the cultural festival! I expect to see you all working very hard to make our school look good!” Gakupo-sensei’s voice rang out over the clatter of shifting chairs and zips of backpacks. 

Kaito groaned, banging his head down on his desk for further dramatic effect. Every year, he got put into a group with Miku and Rin for a booth at the festival. And if you get put with Miku and Rin, it means you stay at school the night before the festival to set everything up. Last year he hadn’t made it home until three in the morning, and the year before that he hadn’t made it home at all. He squeezed his eyes shut and kept his head down on his desk, hoping that Miku was sick, or tired, or had just disappeared altogether.

As if on cue, the sound of Miku’s laughter came bubbling into the empty classroom. It was as if someone had sunk a weight to the bottom of Kaito’s stomach. 

“Ka-san!! You can’t be asleep, we have work to do!”

Internally wincing at his nickname, he sat up slowly, using his worn scarf to cover the bottom half of his face. 

“Can’t we just do something simple and go home early this year, Miku-chan? You and Rin keep us here practically all night.. It’s so tiring…” He faked a yawn for emphasis. 

Miku shook her head, her pigtails swaying back and forth like twin snakes. “Absolutely not! We have to make the school look great, and we have to have the best cultural exhibit of all! Now come on!” She tugged at his sleeve insistently.

Kaito slung his bag over his shoulder, standing up and letting himself be pulled along by the shorter girl. He resigned his gaze to her hand, staring fixedly at the cyan nail polish as she led him to one of the other classrooms. 

Aside from Miku and Rin, he recognized Luka Megurine from class 4-B and Len Kagamine, Rin’s brother, both with equally bored expressions. Looks like he wasn’t the only one who didn’t want to be here.

“Okay, everyone!” Rin clapped her hands, standing at the front of the classroom. “We need to get to work if we’re going to make our exhibit for tomorrow look good! This year, we’re making…” She stepped back and held up a piece of chalk, scribbling on the blackboard as Miku rolled her tongue for a drumroll. “... a haunted house!” She finished with a flourish. 

Luka’s eyes lit up, but Len and Kaito groaned. “Do we have to do something so… lame, onee-chan?” Len piped up, crossing his arms. “A manga cafe was one thing, but a haunted house? That’s baby stuff!” 

Rin glared at her brother, putting the chalk back down. “Says the tough guy who cried the last time we told scary stories around the campfire!” That little comment shut Len up, his cheeks warming to a vivid red as he heard Luka giggling behind him. 

“F-forget it.”

“Enough bickering, you two!” Miku interjected, pointing at the board. “We have some serious work to do, and I know you guys can do it! We have about two hours until our dinner run, so I want to see some serious progress before then!” With that, the others got to work, and Kaito, slumping his shoulders, decided to follow.

~*~

“Do you guys want to hear a scary story?” Rin’s voice cut immediately through the quiet chatter of the room. Len, who had been playfully scaring Luka with a paper mache shrunken head, paused and glanced over at his sister. 

“Is now really a good time for that, onee-chan? You said we should be working…” 

Luka hesitated before saying quietly, “I wouldn’t mind hearing a scary story.. It sounds fun.”

“Good!” Rin chirped, gesturing for Miku to turn off the lights as she sat down cross-legged on the floor. Kaito looked up from the desk he was sitting at, pausing mid-stroke through his painting. Miku waved him over. “Come on, Ka-san! We need a break!” 

Kaito raised an eyebrow, shrugged, and put his brush down before strolling over to sit with the group. Rin’s expression settled into a mischievous smile as she eyed her audience. “Hope you’re all sitting comfortably.. now then…”

~*~

“Back in the 1950s, there was an orphanage in the forest outside of town. The children that lived in the orphanage had no surviving relatives, and no one ever bothered to adopt them because there were strange rumors that circulated around that place… People would sometimes hear screams at night, and they said the doctors that worked in the orphanage were crazy. It was around that time that the head doctor at the orphanage, Hideki Sohta, released a study on immortality. He believed that there was a chemical in the frontal lobe that, once ingested, could render one immortal and unable to die of hunger, injury, poison, or even old age. There was only one problem… The chemical was only available in the brains of children.”

“People considered Sohta to be a madman, and no one took his suggestions seriously. In his anger, Sohta wanted to show them that he was right about the elixir. He vowed to show them all. One by one, children in the orphanage began to disappear. Everyone assumed they were being adopted and thought nothing of it. But when there were no more children in the orphanage, whispers and questions started circulating around Dr Sohta. After a few months, the police decided to investigate the disappearances of the children. Sure enough, there were never any adoption papers found, and no one knew what had happened to the missing children. Soon after, Sohta was arrested for the kidnapping of all the kids in the orphanage, and judging by his execution, he never invented the elixir. He died just as easily as any other human.”

“While most considered that to be the end of the story, there’s still some speculation regarding what happened to the children themselves. People say you can hear their laughter when you’re walking through the forest. Some think this is the work of ghosts… But others speculate… What if the doctors weren’t the ones who ingested the elixir?”

~*~

Kaito found himself shivering a little as Rin finished her story. He looked over at Len, whose face was pale and clammy with fear. Rin grinned with satisfaction as she looked over the now-blanched faces of her audience. 

Miku gulped nervously before standing up, brushing off her skirt. “W-we should probably get back to work…” She was cut off by Luka, gazing at Rin with wide eyes. 

“I-is that true, Rin..?” 

The blonde nodded, standing up as well and straightening her hairbow. “Just as true as I’m standing here! They put that Sohta guy on trial and everything.” Luka thought about this for several moments, furrowing her brow. 

“What if… we went to that orphanage? Just to see what was there… see if the urban legend was true?” 

Kaito looked at her, startled. “W-We can’t do that! The place is probably condemned, or demolished, o-or something... “ He trailed off, nervously tugging at his scarf. Rin tilted her head thoughtfully.

“I don’t think so. The news did a report on the building just last week. It’s being kept as a historical landmark.” 

“Oh…” Kaito nodded, his face burning with embarrassment. 

“Okay, back to work, everyone!” Miku clapped her hands, her cheerful smile returning. “It’s almost 10 pm, we’re getting close to finishing up!” 

As she and Rin continued working, Luka shyly walked away from Len and over to Kaito. “What do you think, Shion-senpai..? Should we try going to that orphanage? It sounds creepy, but kinda fun…” She tucked a strand of her pink hair behind her ear, a slight smile crossing her lips. 

Kaito stammered a little, embarrassed at being referred to as ‘senpai’. 

“It does sound fun, doesn’t it? What do you think, Len?” The blonde glanced up from the spread he was painting. raising an eyebrow. 

“What, the old orphanage? I guess that sounds like fun.. Kind of childish, though.” He shrugged, going back to what he was doing and gesturing for Luka to come help him. As she walked back to the desk, Kaito stood there thoughtfully, wrapping his scarf tighter around his face for comfort. 

“The old orphanage, huh..?


	2. A Search

_There were children laughing._

_That was all Kaito could hear. There were children laughing in the red-tinged darkness. Where was he? His skin burned but his blood felt cold as ice. There were children laughing. It was getting loud. Were they singing? There were children laughing. ‘I know that song.’ Something was dripping down his face. There were children laughing. It was blood. There were children screaming. Where were they? He had to help them. There were children screaming. Kaito was screaming. The dark was getting redder and redder. Blood was flowing down his face. there were children screaming he couldn’t help them he was drowning blood red screams help me help me help me HELP ME_

Kaito sat straight up, a panicked shriek lodged in the back of his throat. His bare chest was heaving with shallow breaths as he put his hand to his face. The only wetness there was sweat; no blood. It had all been a dream… The first nightmare he had in years. 

“Stupid cultural festival…” he croaked dryly, covering his face with his hands. As his eyes closed and his breathing relaxed, he almost felt better. What had his dream even been about..? He hadn’t seen anyone he recognized.. All he remembered was the laughter of children, and the blood… So much blood… 

A shrill, sudden ringing from his bedside table made Kaito lurch forward with a small cry. He looked over at the small flashing light of his phone as the shrill ringing continued. The caller ID informed him that the caller was unknown. Who would call him like this in the middle of the night? He cautiously picked his phone up, hesitating before answering it.

“Hello..?”

_“Hi, Shion-senpai? Sorry to call you so late at night… It’s Luka.”_

“Luka… How did you get my number?”

_“Kagamine-senpai gave it to me. How awake are you?”_

“Huh..? I’m… I’m awake. Why-” 

Kaito could have sworn he heard other voices on the phone. Whispers.

_“Could you come over to my house if I give you my address?”_

“Wha..? Luka, now is hardly a good time t--”

_“Hatsune-senpai and both the Kagamines are already on their way.”_

“... What’s this about..?”

_“It’s about the orphanage.”_

That familiar feeling of a lead weight sinking the bottom of Kaito’s stomach made itself apparent. “What are you--”

_“Just come over. I’ll text you my address.”_

A solid ‘click’ made it obvious that the conversation was over. Kaito stared dumbly at the display of his phone. 1:06 am. They couldn’t possibly be going to the orphanage this late at night, could they? 

With a groan of resignation, he hauled himself out of bed, turned on his light, and walked over to his closet. His mind began to wander as he slipped into his clothes. If they were going to the orphanage at this time of night, maybe there was some other motive… Was Luka trying to confess to him? She always seemed shy and hesitant around him, like she was hiding something. He had assumed she was just a shy person, but… maybe there was more to it?

He wrapped his scarf around his neck and absentmindedly tousled his blue hair, his gaze shifting back to his phone. Sure enough, Luka had texted him her address. An apartment building on the other side of town… Almost an hour away on foot. 

He groaned, slipping his phone back into his pocket and shrugging on his coat. As he cautiously stepped downstairs, slowly to keep from waking anyone else in the house, a buzz from his left pocket signaled another text. Deciding to ignore it until he walked outside, he slipped into his shoes and walked out the door. 

The first friendly sight that greeted him was a low-hanging fog, clinging to the wet pavement. The damp chill of the evening made him pull his coat closer. How was the weather this cold in May? 

He curled his lip distastefully, wrapping his scarf tighter around his neck. The flickering buzz of a dying streetlight was the only sound aside from the repetitive echoes of his lone footsteps. Somewhere in the far-off darkness, a dog was barking.

Kaito was generally a person who kept to himself, and on any other day, a lone walk would set him at ease. But tonight every little sound was putting him on edge. He kept thinking he was seeing things out of the corner of his eye. He heard voices. Whispers. 

It was going to be a long walk.

~*~

By the time Kaito made it to Luka’s apartment, his nerves were frayed beyond repair. His eyes kept darting to and fro, unable to determine the source of the strange whispers he thought he kept hearing behind him. He took the stairs up to Luka’s apartment, quietly making his way down the narrow corridor. 

It was eerily quiet; by all accounts it seemed completely abandoned. He reached room 303, nervously tugging at his scarf before knocking on the door. There was an immediate clatter from within and quick, muffled footsteps making their way to the door. It clicked and swung open, revealing a slightly haggard Luka. 

“Kaito!” Her wary eyes brightened upon seeing him, and she opened the door further to welcome him in. The apartment was small and rather cramped, but it was obvious that Luka knew how to keep the place tidy. Miku, Len, and Rin sat around a small table in the center of the floor. They all looked a little surprised to have been called out here in the middle of the night, but none of them looked as tired as he did. If anything, they looked calm. 

_‘How could anyone be calm in this situation..?’_ Kaito thought to himself, shrugging out of his coat as he sat down with them.

“O-okay, everyone…” Luka smiled shyly, closing the door behind her. “I’m sorry it’s so late, but… I wanted you guys to listen to this.” She took her phone from her pocket, setting it on the table. 

“I got a call from Gumi earlier today after the festival, and I noticed something weird in the voicemail she left for me. What do you guys think of this..?” 

She pressed ‘play’ on her list of voicemails, and immediately Gumi’s chipper voice trilled from the phone’s tinny speaker. 

_“Hi, Luka-chan! How was the festival? I heard your class was one of the best. Listen, did you get the homework fr--”_ The blaring voice was cut off as Luka pressed ‘pause’. 

“Did you guys hear it?” She asked quietly, her voice grave. There was a general shaking of heads. Luka restarted the message, pressing ‘play’ again. 

_“I heard your class was one of the best! Listen, did you--”_

Len pointed, his eyebrows raised. 

“There was a whisper! I heard it, right after the word ‘listen’!” His voice quavered slightly as he pulled back his hand, knowing he must have sounded crazy. 

Luka smiled slightly, rewinding the recording and turning the volume up. 

_“... your class was one of the best! Listen, did you…”_ This time it was Miku who gasped and said she heard a whisper as well. Kaito strained his ears, but still he heard nothing. 

Luka rewinded the recording one more time, this time on maximum volume. 

**_“... your class was one of the best! Listen--”_ **

Kaito jerked back. He had definitely heard something that time. He looked up at Luka with a combination of fear and disbelief, trying to search for some explanation in her calm green eyes. She just sighed, putting her phone away. 

“So you all heard what I did. We need to go to the orphanage tonight. I just know it…” The others nodded with murmurs of assent. Kaito kept his wary gaze on Luka, his eyes occasionally darting to the pocket that held her phone. 

The whisper he had heard on Gumi’s voicemail kept running through his mind, taunting him with its vagueness. What did it mean? Why did it make Luka think they needed to visit the orphanage this late at night, in weather like this? He pursed his lips, pulling his scarf protectively over his face. There was no doubt about it. He knew what he’d heard.

_“Who is that standing behind you?”_


	3. A Discovery

The woods outside Luka’s neighborhood were cold and dark, unnervingly distant from the familiar light and noise of the city. Kaito stepped back from the tendrils of fog curling around the damp, moss-covered roots that jutted up from the ground like veins. 

“How far is it to the orphanage?” He asked, breaking the silence and glancing sidelong at the others. 

“It’s about a thirty minute walk…” Rin piped up as she consulted her map of the area, snagged from a visitor’s center after the cultural festival. “If we hurry, we can get there in 20 minutes.” 

“Come on, everyone! We can make it back before sunrise if we leave now!” Miku chirped, trying to hide the trembling in her voice. Without another word, she set off into the woods, her pigtails swaying to and fro in her wake. 

Rin, Len, and Luka duly followed. Kaito hesitated, looking down at his hands and keeping his breathing steady. His eyes passed over the pale skin, the tiny hairs, the blue polish he had applied a few days before… All these things which should seem so familiar did nothing to calm his nerves. 

“Who is that standing behind you…” He murmured quietly, before clenching his hands into fists and jamming them into his pockets. Without looking back, he set off into the woods.

~*~

The fog muffled the group’s footsteps as they walked through the darkened forest. A tense silence hung over them, the usual serenity of walking through the woods ruined by the tension that hung over the group. 

The air had only gotten colder, and the moonlight that filtered through the branches was just dim enough to give sinister shapes to the twitching shadows of the surrounding trees. It took Kaito a few minutes to discern a soft sound, just barely audible over the whistling of the breeze through the barren trees. It was the sound of Miku… singing? 

“Um… Miku-chan?” he asked softly. She didn’t notice, keeping her arms wrapped around herself and continuing to sing quietly. 

_ “Kagome, kagome… Kago no naka no tori….”  _

Len noticed it, too, and glared at the shorter girl. “Hey. Cut it out, Miku. You aren’t helping.” 

His voice cracked like a whip in the cold, silent air. Miku jumped, wrapping her arms tighter around herself and nodding with a soft whimper. 

“S-sorry…” She hung her head, going quiet again. 

Kaito felt bad for her; she had volunteered to lead them into the woods without any warning, it was only natural that she was scared. 

“Hey,” he murmured, walking a little faster to catch up to her. “Miku-chan..? That song you were singing… It’s a children’s song, isn’t it?” 

She looked up at him with wide blue eyes, her lashes wet and matted. ‘So she’s been crying, too...’

“Y-yeah.” Miku smiled, wiping at her eyes with a sniffle. “I’ve known it since I was little... my sensei taught it to me. We would always play games together in the.. in the place where I grew up.” 

She bit her lip, shifting her eyes back to the ground. Kaito raised an eyebrow. Usually Miku couldn’t stop talking. Why was she so hesitant now? Then, with a bit of a sinking sensation, Kaito realized he had never actually heard Miku talk about her childhood. Maybe there were repressed memories there..? 

Before he could ponder it further, Rin exclaimed excitedly: “I see it! Just there, through the trees!” She pointed at the vague outline of a building, eerily illuminated by the moonlight. Kaito gulped nervously, following the rest of the group until they were standing in a large clearing in front of the orphanage.

The first thing Kaito noticed was the lack of decay. The orphanage had a few shattered windows, sure, but for a building allegedly abandoned since the 70s, it should have been in a much worse state. Staring intently into the windows, he kept expecting a sudden movement or a face up against the glass, but there was nothing. The building was, by all accounts, completely deserted. 

The second thing he noticed was the silence. The woods weren’t just quiet. Utter silence lay over the clearing. The wind had stopped, the rustling sounds of the forest had ceased, even the faint hum of crickets in the undergrowth had faded away. It pressed in on Kaito’s ears with a tangible heaviness that sent chills down his spine. 

Luka gently touched his shoulder, snapping him out of his thoughts. “Shion-senpai..? Are you alright?”

“Y-yeah.” He nodded, running a hand through his hair with a deep breath. “I’m fine. Should we go in?” There was a murmur of assent from the rest of the group. Kaito nodded again, gulping nervously before clenching his jaw and walking to the main door. 

~*~

_ “Kagome, kagome… Kago no nata no tori…” _

The echoes of a soft, lilting child’s voice faded away as soon as Kaito opened the orphanage doors. The stale stench of decades of decay assaulted his senses, bringing tears to his eyes and forcing him to double over with hacking coughs. 

Miku rushed to help him as the others looked into the darkened orphanage with expressions of dread. “We can’t seriously be going in there.” Len muttered darkly, crossing his arms. 

Rin hit his shoulder, hissing angrily, “Don’t say that, onii-chan! Look at how far we’ve already come!” 

The blonde held his sister’s gaze angrily for a few moments before looking away. “... Fine.”

After Kaito had sufficiently cleared his lungs of all the dust, the group decided to go in. The main entrance room was devoid of most furniture save for the old main desk and a few scattered chairs. 

Miku ran one of her fingers over the surface of the desk, grimacing at the layer of dust that clung to her finger. “It’s awfully dirty to be haunted...” She muttered quietly, her brow furrowing with worry. 

Rin decided to ignore her, stuffing the map of the woods into her bag and looking around the large, empty room. On either side of the room, two staircases ascended to the second floor. A decaying wooden banister crossed the hall that passed between where both staircases met the second story, the hallway disappearing into dark twin corridors on both sides. 

Kaito strained his ears for the sound of voices, whispers, any kind of movement upstairs, but his ears still suffered the unnerving silence that lay across the darkened orphanage.

“Okay!” Rin chirped, seemingly unaffected by the unease that was slowly settling over the group, “Onii-chan, you and I can take Luka and go to the north wing. Ka-san, you and Miku-chan go to the south wing. We’ll meet back here in an hour. Be careful!” 

She grinned, grabbing Len’s hand and practically dragging him to the left staircase, with Luka nervously trailing behind. Miku glanced sidelong at Kaito, smoothing back her blue hair with a shy smile. “Well… should we go, Ka-san?” 

Kaito snapped out of his reverie, looking at her with a confused look in his eyes before shaking his head a little and smiling. “Sure thing.”

Miku withdrew and clicked on her spare flashlight, and they ascended the stairs.

~*~

A door opened at the end of the corridor, curious eyes watching the faint light fade as Kaito and Miku walked down the hall. A child’s voice giggled, small hands opening the door wider with the faintest whisper of a creak. Unheard to the group of high school students, an empty voice echoed through the orphanage:

_ “Who is that standing behind you?” _


	4. A Realization

_ “You’re so silly, Sohta-sensei!” The little girl laughed, looking up at her beloved teacher from where she sat, red hair bow askew, on the floor. “You aren’t playing the game right!”  _

_ “I’m not, am I..?” Hideki Sohta adjusted his glasses thoughtfully, smiling down at her.  _

_ “No!” She replied, getting back up and dusting off her dress. “You don’t run, you skip, like this!” She skipped a circle around her teacher, singing gaily, “Kagome, kagome! Kago no nata no tori…” Sohta chuckled at the girls’ antics, but his expression quickly became grave as the double doors at the end of the room opened.  _

_ “Dr Sohta, we are ready for the patient.” _

_ The girl stopped skipping, her smile disappearing as she looked up at her teacher, wide-eyed. “Is that my check-up, Sohta-sensei?” _

_ “Yes, child.” He smiled warmly down at her, gesturing for her to go into the next room. “You’ve been a very good girl. Go ahead, I’ll be here when you come back.”  _

_ She nodded, her smile returning as she turned and flounced over to the open doors. Hands clad with sterile white gloves ushered her in, slamming the door behind her. Dr Sohta hummed to himself, adjusting his glasses and looking down at his clipboard.  _

_ “Time to retrieve the next patient…” He mused to himself, standing up and straightening his lab coat as the little girl’s shrill screams began to echo from the next room. _

~*~

“Did you hear that?”

Kaito paused, wheeling around to pan the flashlight beam down the dark corridor they had walked through. “I heard something… It sounded like a scream.” Miku paused too, straining her ears to see if anything was there. 

“I don’t hear anything, Ka-san. It must have been your imagination.” She shrugged. 

Kaito pursed his lips, giving the corridor one more look before turning back around and continuing to walk. So far they hadn’t found anything of note; a few spiders and a dead rat were all they had met on their walk through the orphanage. No ghosts or immortal children yet. 

“Hey, here’s a door…” Miku’s voice interrupted Kaito’s thoughts, and he guided the flashlight to shine on a pair of impressive wooden double doors. “That’s funny.. Why isn’t there any dust on these?” The girl murmured, running her hand over the polished metal door handles. 

“Maybe Luka and the others already passed through here.” Kaito commented, stepping forward and trying one of the handles. “Hmm... Locked. Maybe there’s a key…” He pulled his hand back, keeping his gaze on the doors as he shined the flashlight down the corridor. He shrugged, turning back to face forward.

Someone was standing at the end of the hallway.

White hot panic exploded in Kaito’s head and he jerked back, the flashlight clattering to the ground from his numb fingers. Cursing, he dropped to the ground and scrambled for the small metal flashlight. When he finally had it in his grasp, he snapped it back up to where the figure had been, but of course there was no one there. 

“Ka-sani?!” Miku yelped, alarmed, cautiously putting her hand on the boy’s shoulder. “Are you alright?”

“Fine. I’m… I’m fine.” He whispered, his voice hoarse. Had he screamed? He couldn’t remember. His heart was still hammering as he stood back up, wrapping his scarf closer for comfort. He couldn’t have imagined that. 

“There was someone.. someone standing…” He struggled for words, pointing at the area where he had seen the figure with a shaking hand. Miku glanced at the end of the hall, confused. “There’s no one there..”

“B-but there was! I saw it!” He insisted, only achieving a confused stare from Miku. “You’re imagining things, Ka-san… there’s no one here but us.” She cautiously removed the flashlight from his hand, not wanting him to drop it again. 

“Let’s go look for a key, okay?” She smiled, brushing her hair over her shoulder as she turned and walked down the hall. Kaito blinked a few times, shaking his head before following her.

~*~

Four rooms and several turns later, Kaito and Miku came across a small storage closet. “Paydirt! This has to be where they kept the keys!” Miku chirped, looking excitedly over her shoulder at her companion. 

He nodded, a faint smile tracing his lips. Seemingly unfazed by his lack of enthusiasm, Miku whirled around and started struggling to open the storage closet. “Listen, Ka-san--  _ mmf! _ I know you must--  _ urgh _ \-- be scared from earlier, but you can’t let that--  _ hnn! _ \-- get in the wa-- HYAAAAAH!!”

Miku shrieked as a dark mass tumbled out of the storage closet, smothering her in a stale, foul stench. “Miku-chan!” Kaito yelped, running forward in a panic to help her. He practically tackled the thing off of her, pinning it down onto the ground and giving it a few solid hits before realizing it was just a duffel bag. 

“Wha..? What the hell?” He muttered, brushing back his hair, now ratty from all the dust. Miku sat up, shaking with fear and looking at the duffel bag with a mixture of fright and confusion. Kaito met her gaze, shrugging as he stood up. “Huh… I guess it was just packed in there.”

“It smells awful…” Miku covered her nose and mouth with her sleeve. Kaito nodded in agreement, nudging the bag with his foot. “You try to find the key in the storage closet… I’ll deal with this.” 

His companion nodded, turning and cautiously walking into the small room. Kaito watched her go before looking back down at the bag. It was fairly big, made of a brown burlap which was stained with god knows what.

He hesitated, repulsed by the stench, before closing his eyes and ripping open the bag’s zipper.

As if the smell wasn’t already bad enough, it wafted out so strong upon being released that Kaito retched, turning away and emptying his stomach onto the dusty rug. After a few more shuddering heaves and a lot of coughing, he got enough courage to pull his scarf over his nose and mouth and look inside.

Someone had reinforced the inside of the bag with teflon, rendering it insulated and leak-proof. The walls of the bag were coated with chunks of rubbery, decaying flesh and muscle. A grisly soup of congealed blood and rotting meat sloshed around the bottom of the bag, and the jagged ends of broken bones could be seen jutting out of the mess. 

Kaito’s stomach heaved again, and he clamped one hand over his mouth while shining the flashlight into the bag. The beam illuminated the soaked remains of a tattered red hair bow that could be seen submerged in the gore.

He closed his eyes, groping for the zipper and quickly yanking it shut. As he gulped for air in lieu of the awful stench, he spotted the edge of a sheet of paper poking out from under the duffel bag. His curiosity overcame his disgust, and he gave the paper a few gentle tugs before getting it free. It was old and yellowed, faded cursive writing adorning one side. Gulping nervously, Kaito unfolded it and started to read.

_ Dear Doctor Sohta,  _

_ Happy Birthday! Sensei told me, and I wanted to make you a present! My check-up is tomorrow, and I can’t wait to give it to you then! Sensei told me that check-ups make children stronger. He even said I could live forever! I can’t wait for my check-up! I hope you like your present! _

_ Love, Meiko-chan _

Turning the paper over, Kaito’s fingers brushed over a sloppy crayon drawing of a group of children, holding hands and circling around the man that stood in the middle of the circle. An arrow pointed to the man, identifying him as ‘Sohta-sensei’. This must have been a present for Hideki Sohta…

_ “Why, sensei?” _

Kaito jumped as the sound of a child’s whisper hissed in his ear. 

_ “Why… sensei? Why?”  _

He looked around in a wild panic for the source of the whispering, dropping the paper and whirling the flashlight around the corridor. 

_ “Why? Sensei?”  _

Where was it coming from?

_ “Sensei?”  _

Why was it so close?

_ “Sensei?!” _

What did it want?!

_ “SENSEI!” _

With a final cry, the voice faded into silence. Kaito sat there, clutching at his chest as he kept flicking the flashlight around the hall, determined to see the source of the noise. As seconds passed, Kaito began to relax, panting and letting out slow, steady breaths. No one there that he could see. He panned the flashlight beam back down to the bag, a faint smile on his face. 

‘There’s no one here but me and that damn b--’

The bag squirmed.

_ “Sensei.” _

Kaito cried out, scrambling to his feet and backing to the wall in a blind panic. The bag moved. It was in the bag. The thing in the bag was _ alive.  _ “Miku-chan!” He cried hoarsely, wheeling around and hammering on the door of the storage room. 

“Miku-chan!! We need to go! We need to find the others and get out of here right now!” He yanked open the door. The storage closet was empty. “Shit,” he hissed, turning around and sprinting down the corridor. They needed to get out. The stories were true, there was something here. He knew it. 

“Miku-chan! Rin! Len! Luka!  _ Can you hear me? _ ” He shouted, his voice echoing through the orphanage. Where were they? Surely they heard him!  _ “MIKU!” _

As he ran, his flashlight flickering wildly to and fro, the beam came to rest on the oak double doors that they had passed earlier. One of the doors was slightly ajar. “Miku?” He called out, stepping forward and cautiously pushing open the door. 

The room was starkly different from every other in the orphanage. A single, bare light bulb hung from the ceiling by a wire, casting an eerily dim glow on the room. Tatami mats and discarded toys lay strewn across the floor, a radio sat in the corner of the room, and a large dresser topped with a mirror stood against the back wall. 

Kaito approached it nervously, turning off his flashlight. As he looked closely, what he thought were just smudges on the mirror started to make themselves clear as writing. 

He leaned in to look closer at the mirror, squinting to read what it said. As he discerned each word, he felt the blood in his face drain, fear sinking an icy stone into the pit of his stomach.

_ “Who is that standing behind you?” _

And every light went out, plunging the room into complete and utter darkness.


	5. A Truth

_ “Who is that standing behind you?” _

The whisper cut through the silence of the darkened room. Kaito couldn’t see a thing. He wheeled around, backing against the dresser and turning on his flashlight, flicking it around the room in a blind panic. “W-who’s there? Hello?!” 

_ “Who is that standing behind you?” _

“I don’t know! God, please, what do you want from me?!” He choked out, moving the flashlight around even faster. The voice kept whispering in his ear, getting louder and louder until it echoed inside his very thoughts, leaving him paralyzed with fear. “Please… help me!” He cried out, brandishing the flashlight like a club.

“Ka-san?”

The beam of light panned up to illuminate Miku’s face. “Miku-chan! Thank god you’re okay! Look, we need to get out of h--” Kaito stopped at the girl’s expression. Her eyes were red and swollen, her eyelashes matted and wet. Pale wet streaks marked her face. 

“I’m sorry…” She whispered, looking at the ground and avoiding his gaze. “What? Why are you sorry, Miku-chan? What did they do to you? I haven’t seen you since-”

She shook her head, looking up at him with a pained grimace. “That isn’t it, Ka-san… I just wanted to apologize… I-I’ve always liked you, Ka-san. I tried to tell them not to do it, but no one would listen.. I’m sorry...” Kaito shook his head, not understanding. “What are you talking about..?”

“I’m sorry.” she said simply, as she took a step toward him. It was the first time he had really looked at her eyes. They were limpid and red-rimmed, almost looking sickly. “Miku-cha--”

_ Shunk. _

A red flare of pain blossomed through Kaito’s lower back. A gut-wrenching slicing sound paired with a wet snap made him collapse to the ground with a hoarse cry, trying weakly to fend off whoever had attacked him. He registered the faint sound of Miku’s sobs as he looked up at his attacker. “L-Luka-chan..?”

“Sorry, Shion-senpai!” She chirped, cheerfully smiling as she plunged the scissors into Kaito’s side. Blood started to pulse out in slow, wet ‘slurps’. He let out another hoarse scream. 

“P-please..! Stop!” 

“I know this hurts, but trust me, it’s worth it! Just don’t scream too loud, we don’t want anyone else to hear, do we?” Spatters of blood peppered her face and hair, the red contrasting with her pink locks. She grinned widely as she twisted the blades, clotting them with gore as she pulled them back out of his shoulder. 

“Help me…  _ agh! _ It hurts! Help me, Miku-chan!” He reached out to the cyan-haired girl with a trembling, blood-covered hand. She stepped forward, about to take his hand, before he watched Len walk up behind her and pull her back. “Len…”

“This is all for the best, Kaito. Trust me.” Len’s face was grave. 

Kaito struggled to sit up, to look at him, but he was struck back down as Luka swiftly drove the blade into his neck. “There’s the carotid! Time to inject!” She giggled, throwing down the blood-soaked scissors and pulling a syringe from her pocket. 

“Now stay still, Shion-senpai, or this won’t work.” She scolded, waving the needle over his eyes. His vision dimmed into a red-tinged blur, sweat rolling thin rivers down his face. Sticky, brilliant blood bubbled from between his lips as he struggled to fight back, but Luka had his arm pinned down as she jammed the needle into his vein. 

If the pain of being stabbed was a roll of thunder, the pain he felt after she withdrew the needle from his skin was a deafening hurricane. Kaito screamed as loudly as his shredded vocal cords would allow, writhing in agony as the waves of unbearable burning pulsed from his arm. It felt like he was being skinned from the inside out. 

His stomach heaved, expelling foul-smelling bile from his lips. He retched over and over again, the disgusting meaty ‘urks’ punctuating his sobs and cries of pain. He didn’t know how long he lay there, resorting to loud sobs after he was unable to scream any longer. 

After the pain had thrummed through every crevice of his body, the numbness started. Beginning where the original puncture wound had been, the sensation felt like thousands of frozen needles stabbing into his skin. After each little needle pulled out, numbness was left in its wake. 

He struggled against it, letting out small broken whimpers as he tried to drag himself away. The sensation rippled across his arms and legs, rendering them useless. He groaned with pain and exhaustion, squirming about, still determined to escape. The lack of sensation reached a cold hand over his torso and crept its way up to his face. As he lost feeling in his neck, his head dropped with a ‘thud’ to the floor. 

His eyes had time to flicker over to see Miku sobbing into her hands before the lack of feeling reached his eyelids, and then he could see nothing but blackness.

~*~

“I think he’s unconscious.” Rin pointed out after Kaito went silent. Luka nudged him with her foot, then nodded. 

“Yup! He should wake up in a few hours, perfectly fine!” Her pink hair waved back and forth as she skipped over to turn on the light. 

Miku sniffled, wiping her tears on her sleeve. “I didn’t want you to hurt him... “ Rin smiled, rubbing Miku’s shoulder. 

“It’s okay, Miku-chan! He’ll be one of us now. The only reason we enrolled in that school for so long was to get him here, remember?” Miku nodded. She remembered. 

A few years before, when she had first seen Kaito walking through the woods. She remembered the fluttering feeling she got in her tummy when he brushed back his blue hair, striding past the tree she was hiding behind. 

She had immediately gone back to the orphanage, going up to the playroom to find Luka. She had bubbled about the ‘Blue Boy’ for hours, sighing and gazing off into the distance when he crossed her mind. 

Luka had decided that Miku was in love, and convinced Rin and Len to find out what school the ‘Blue Boy’ went to. They decided to enroll, changing the dates that had been on the paperwork that Dr Sohta had had in his office. 

“This was all for you, Miku. He’s here now. He’ll be with us forever.” Rin said gently. 

Miku nodded with a sniffle, biting her lip as she gazed at the twitching boy on the floor. Rin was right. After Sohta-sensei had killed Meiko-chan, there was an empty hole left in the group of orphanage children. They wanted a new friend, and now they had one. The blue-haired boy was going to be one of the immortal children. Forever.

Miku gulped, wrapping her arms around herself and taking a deep breath as she gazed down at Kaito. They’d be together forever now. He would never leave her side again. Miku knelt down and gently stroked the boy’s hair. 

_ “Kagome, kagome… Kago no nata no tori…” _

End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That was fun! Just a cute little blast from the past. Hope you enjoyed! I should do these fic remasters more often.


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